PULTENEY STREET SURVEY - SPRING 2017

Highest Honors

Alumna Achievement Award

Magazine Leadership

Recognized for her influential, principled and
longstanding leadership in the magazine industry,
Lucy E. Kaylin ’81, editor-in-chief of O, The Oprah
Magazine, was awarded the William Smith College
Alumnae Association’s highest honor – the Alumna
Achievement Award – during Founder’s Day.
Under Kaylin’s leadership, O boasts one of the
largest monthly magazine circulations and one of the
industry’s highest e-edition circulations. In Kaylin’s
first two years as editor-in-chief, the magazine won
back-to-back National Magazine Awards.

“I really am clear on the fact that my career and
my life would not have taken the course that
it did – this very satisfying course – had it not
all begun here,” Kaylin said. “I received untold
gifts along the lines of stimulation, inspiration
and incredible attention from professors in a
way that you can only get at an intimate place
like this, and I am eternally grateful.”

The Scales of Justice

The Honorable Laura G. Douglas ’79 received the Alumna
Achievement Award on Feb. 11 as part of events planned for
the Multicultural Networking and Career Conference. The
Justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court and Supervising
Judge of the Bronx County Civil Court, Douglas has spent her
life in service to justice. After graduating from William Smith,
Douglas earned her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh
School of Law and was admitted to the New York State bar.

“It’s amazing to me that a little over 40 years ago, this
shy 16-year-old freshman from the Bronx, New York,
embarked on a wonderful journey here at Hobart and
William Smith Colleges,” Douglas said in her address on
campus. “I knew that William Smith would prepare me
for the things I would encounter along the way and its
truly a humbling experience to receive this award.”

Hobart Medal of
Excellence

The Pilgrimage from Hobart and Back

Following graduation, Michael B. Curry ’75
departed Geneva with a profound sense of purpose:
to spend his life challenging unjust social structures
through faith. Now the first African American
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Curry has
done just that and recently returned to the Colleges
to receive the Hobart Medal of Excellence for his
progressive initiatives and influence.

President Mark D. Gearan applauded Curry’s work
as “an inclusive, authentic way to Evangelism and
a commitment to racial reconciliation in our culture
and our world” in the spirit of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr, an enduring inspiration to Curry.

“The real way of faith is a way of self-sacrificial
service, and witness, and giving, and living,
and that way, is our hope,” Curry said,
referring to the common values of religions
like Islam and Christianity. “Those religious
traditions are pointing us beyond the self and
toward the other.”

Botanical Success

For his extraordinary contributions to his community
and environmental learning, award-winning author and
horticulturist William G. Cullina ’86 was honored with the
Hobart Medal of Excellence last year. The executive director
of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Cullina is renowned
for his extensive knowledge of native North American plants,
and is credited for the park’s distinction as Trip Advisor’s No. 1
botanical garden in America.

“In his professional and personal accomplishments, Bill
Cullina exemplifies the curiosity, creativity and innovation
that we value at Hobart and William Smith,” said
President Mark D. Gearan, who was one of the many
guests who attended the Coastal Maine gathering and
presentation ceremony. “Bill’s successes ripple outward,
touching the lives of his family and friends, improving his
community and the environment, and strengthening his
professional field and his alma mater.”